Just Back from Seattle

Hi All,

I had the most amazing trip to Seattle this week. I met folks from not one but two fabric companies: Clothworks of Seattle and Kinkame of Japan. At Clothworks headquarters, there were rolls and rolls and bolts and bolts of fabric that had just been delivered. They were being processed for shipping to quilt shops all over the United States. And there was a design room where work was under way on next year's fabrics. I'm sworn to secrecy on this so you'll just have to watch the shelves at your local quilt shops. What I can tell you is there are lots of great colors and designs coming your way.


I enjoyed lunch and conversation with, seated from left, Clothworks designer Joyce Cronkhite and Clothworks marketing pro Brandi Frey and, standing from left, Clothworks owners Candice and Ted Hoffman, and Kinkame rep Kouji Takahashi. The two companies work together to distribute their fabrics in Japan and the United States.



Checking out quilt shops in the Seattle area led me to Taylor Creek Quilt Shop in Maple Valley, Washington. Shop owner and operator Joanne Lee specializes in fabrics with a Pacific Rim flare. That means the Northwest U.S. coast, Alaska, Hawai'i, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and more. The shop is full of batiks, wilderness prints, indigenous designs, and gold-highlighted Asian prints. Check out the shop pin Joanne gave me. Pretty cool pin! Pretty cool shop! Pretty cool Joanne!



I'm thrilled I'll be traveling to Quilt Market in Houston in October and then to Japan in November where I'll get to see Kouji Takahashi of Kinkame Fabrics again when we meet at International Quilt Week Yokohama. Stay tuned for my posts from there.

First, my Big Adventure is taking me on a road trip from Colorado to Nebraska (the International Quilt Study Center) and across Iowa to Chicago. Then I'll be on to Indianapolis. I'll head home via a more southern route through Missouri and Kansas. Woo-hoo. Just imagine all the quilt shops and sites! Road trip! Now home to pack...

My first stop!

Hi, all! I wanted to share some pictures of me at the first stop of my Big Adventure. On Saturday, May 8, 2010, I went to the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Here I am sitting on the sign...

...and here I am sitting on the bench out front, next to the neat sculpture that sits in front of the three-story glass-and-brick building.

Wow! What a place! This state-of-the-art facility is only three years old, and it was built with "green" methods and materials. Inside, my first stop was the Virtual Gallery. You can look up nearly 900 quilts at this station and see them displayed life-size on the screen. There's also a recording booth where you can record and share your story.

Here I am in one of the galleries, enjoying pieces from the "Perspectives" exhibit:

And here I am, taking a break on the stairs with the brochure for the upcoming exhibit, "South Asian Seams: Quilts from India, Pakistan, & Bangladesh." Boy, they really are the INTERNATIONAL Quilt Study Center, aren't they?

I sure had a lot of fun here, and I'm sure you will too. Lincoln is a very cool little college town, and there were lots of fun places to visit. But the IQSC was the best. Learn more at http://www.quiltstudy.org/. See you soon!